IT's not honey flow weather here

[irwin harlton]

A cold winter ,a cold spring and now a cold summer, windy, gusts to 60 kilometers ,today with a high of 16 celcuis. Alot of canola is in bloom, no honey to speak of on hives,maybe 10 - 15 lbs.................. this beekeeper is suffering stress and the bees are idle because of the weather
Anybody else in the same boat?

[Gregg]

I hear ya Irwin. I haven't looked at mine for a couple of weeks, I figured I was discouraged enough as it was. Not sure of the metric conversions offhand, but about 65 F here today with 30 mph winds. To make matters worse, very little clover around, all alfalfa has been cut, not much for bees to work anyway.

[123456]

Things are looking surprisingly good here. 1+ supers full already. Although with 6-7 weeks remaining it's too early to predict a bumper crop.
Spending a lot of time breaking swarm cells though.

[Ted]

[QUOTE=.................. and the bees are idle because of the weather
Anybody else in the same boat?[/QUOTE]

Irwin my Friend, I feel your pain, here in Northern New York its much the same along the ST Lawrence River I have hives that haven't come up into the 2nd hive body, I run all mine in 2 DD, Queens are laying a nice brood pattern ... it hasn't been good growing weather for bees cold nights and cool days or its raining.

this beekeeper is also suffering stress but look at the bright side.... there is always next year Good Luck

Ted

[suttonbeeman]

same here....after last two years 100 and 120 yr drought I knew clover would not yield. Great poplar/locust bloom....monsoon season made it a washout. Moved bees to Wisconsin....made some honey but getting dry and has been cool. With rain could still get a decent crop. Also Florida orange hurt by late freeze then drought....bees I left in Fl had 18 inches of rain in gallberry/palmetto flow...last 5 years production have been low with no bumper or really good crops!

[rainesridgefarm]

My hives in southwest wi and northwest il are looking a little hungry. Some yards look good but not like the last 5 years.

[honeyshack]

I hear ya Irwin. A few nights ago it got down to 4 Celcius. Tonight if it clears, it could very well freeze. We are only 2.5 hours north of Winnipeg but it feels like we are in northern manitoba right now. Add to the hives woes a massive outbreak of lagus bugs and alfalfa weavels, not alot of blooms thanks to the floods last year and the bugs this year, and massive amounts of Madador and some cygone all over the place...could be the makings of a "wonderful" season
Suppose to start to warm tomorrow...so they say!

someone need to rethink this global warming thing..

[Trevor Mansell]

same here....after last two years 100 and 120 yr drought I knew clover would not yield. Great poplar/locust bloom....monsoon season made it a washout. Moved bees to Wisconsin....made some honey but getting dry and has been cool. With rain could still get a decent crop. Also Florida orange hurt by late freeze then drought....bees I left in Fl had 18 inches of rain in gallberry/palmetto flow...last 5 years production have been low with no bumper or really good crops!

What part of Wi are you in?

[The Honey Householder]

I was still feeding some 2 weeks ago. I found some this week that has 3-4 supers already. The soybeans are starting to bloom now. Everyone wants honey now, I only wish I had my first semi load off. Start pulling honey tomorrow.

[suttonbeeman]

Trevor....I'm in redgranite....west of Oshkosh.I may need to clarify a previous post ...the five bad years on a row are here in KY. Ave crop in Wi last year, my first there. Where are you in Fl? I have come down for pepper a couple of times...if I had some locations I might want to this year. I hate to come back to ky in Sept, unload semi and spread colonies....have a 4 week nectar flow then nothing until I gather and go To Fl First of Dec. Know of any place I can find 4 pepper locations....then I could split and get my numbers up to 800-1,000 next yr.

[Trevor Mansell]

Trevor....I'm in redgranite....west of Oshkosh.I may need to clarify a previous post ...the five bad years on a row are here in KY. Ave crop in Wi last year, my first there. Where are you in Fl? I have come down for pepper a couple of times...if I had some locations I might want to this year. I hate to come back to ky in Sept, unload semi and spread colonies....have a 4 week nectar flow then nothing until I gather and go To Fl First of Dec. Know of any place I can find 4 pepper locations....then I could split and get my numbers up to 800-1,000 next yr.

Im in n.w. Wisconsin until Sept. Then I head back to Fl to split bees and try to make a pepper crop. I live in Sebring Fl just south of Frostproof. As far as pepper spots I dont know of any, I dont have enough for my bees especially if I make the splits I want to get done.

[soupcan]

Sooo have you guys contacted Al Gore?????

[soupcan]

Record low predected for here in Omaha next two nites!
Low 50's they are a talking.
I have not spoke with anyone that has a good crop on as of yet.
August I hope is hot & dry.
Problem is at this point the beans are so short there is not much plant to bloom!

[suttonbeeman]

trevor....I stay just north of you n Avon Park during orange. I now winter/build bees in NE Fl away from spray in groves.

[tedw200]

can't complain
have 2 hives, 2 hivebody 2 supper each.
july 3 rd harvest 38 quarts.
hoping for more next month.

[NDnewbeek]

I am in much the same situation. It has been wet (which is good), but very cool here (western ND) all summer. I made splits in April and hived packages at that time. Maybe one or two is almost ready for a second deep hive body - very slow going. One new hive from a package even absconded after pulling 4 frames. We have some canola, wild alfalfa and now, goldenrod blooming, but no great quantities. I have pretty much given up on having any sort of honey crop this year. I am hoping for a big late summer/fall flow (safflower - and if I am lucky, also sunflower) to make up and get the hives ready for winter.

Mike

[honeyshack]

Well the sun finally came out today. The bees are high tailing it out to the fields to make up for lost time. The alfalfa is slow, but we are thankful that several producers decided to seed canola in the area. It is in bloom. The weather looks promising to Monday. However we know how the weather man is at his predictions.

[doc25]

It's been cold for sure can't believe it's July. I bought 2, 3 frame nucs this year and I think they are doing pretty well, they're in 4 deeps and 1 medium each so far. Alfalfa is starting to bloom but the bees aren't on it yet.

[sqkcrk]

Many of you know me as being picky about some things.

I hope you don't have a HONEY FLOW, unless that's honey flowing from one container to another. But I do hope you have a good NECTAR FLOW. Nectar flowing into the hives from the flowers via the foraging bees.

That's how I have always heard it refered to by beekeepers. Maybe it's a matter of perception or I don't know what. But I just thought y'all aught to know the difference.

All you long time experienced beekeepers,
how do you refer to the incoming crop? Nectar flow or honey flow? After all, it isn't honey until after the nectar comes in and is transformed by the bees.

[Tom G. Laury]

I guess at the beginning I refer to it as a nectar flow, if it is major honey plant. Minor sources always.

But at the end of a major flow, supers filled and bragging over a beer, I migt refer to a good honeyflow.

It bugs me too when people use that term inappropriately.